APRILIA ALITALIA RACING TEAM: FLYING THE TRICOLOUR FLAG IN THE SBK 2010 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP.

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Another year’s experience under the belt for a bike and a team which took the world Superbike championship by storm in their debut season. This time, however, with the livery of a prestigious new Italian sponsor adorning the bikes’ fairings, a name evocative of legendary chapters in the history of Italian motor sports.

Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team will be entering the 2010 World Superbike Championship without hiding its ambitious goals.
And yet this is only the second season for both team and bike in this highly prestigious and competitive world series dedicated to motorcycles series production.
The success of last year is thanks to Max Biaggi and the all new four cylinder Aprilia RSV4 which, during their first season in 2009, demonstrated a competitiveness which – even though the arrival of this bike and Max Biaggi’s return to Aprilia after twelve years were both hotly anticipated events – astonished everyone.

Now the challenge begins again. Every one of the most competitive opponents (seven different constructers are competing in the SBK world championship, representing the best that the motorcycling world has to offer) will be waiting for the Aprilia RSV4 and its riders at the start line. This means that the team can no longer count on being able to surprise its competitors, who are now fully aware of the capabilities of the Italian four cylinder. However, what the team can now count on is a vital year of experience with both the circuits and the bike.
Aprilia RSV4 enters the 2010 world championship with a magnificent Tricolour livery representing the team’s partnership with Alitalia. This livery, which brings together two prestigious and proudly Italian brands, is evocative of legendary chapters in Italian motor sports history, when teams flying the Alitalia colours won world championships in disciplines ranging from rally to offshore power boats.

Maurizio Roman, Piaggio Group Director of Product Development and Strategy: “Partnerships are often forged between brands and sponsors that have very little in common, with no relation whatsoever between their respective activities. Today, however, we are witnessing one of those rare cases of an auspicious union between brands that share many values. They share the same Italianness and, above all, the same commitment to technological advancement and excellence. Behind both are companies that strive to elevate prestigious brands to new heights, and which have made history in their respective segments.
In the early days, the Aprilia logo featured a tricolour capital A, which was strongly inspired by the graphic symbol of the national Italian airline. Today we are truly proud that Alitalia has chosen the fairings of the magnificent Aprilia RSV4 as the canvas to continue its history as brand involved to world class motor sports. It is a great honour and opportunity for Aprilia to bear the colours of a prestigious brand such as Alitalia and to represent its values in the highly competitive arena of the world Superbike championship”.

Leo Francesco Mercanti, Director of Aprilia Racing & Product Development: “It is cause for great pride for us to take part in a motor sports season that sees three major Italian groups represented on the starting grip in a world class technological competition with all of the world’s greatest motorcycle brands. It is a challenge not just in terms of sports, but also on a business and an industrial level, with the image of an entire country at stake. We understand the responsibility and

honour of carrying a little piece of Italy with us around the world. These are brands that have written entire chapters in the history of Italian motor sports: Alitalia did so with its fantastic wins in rallying, the Eni-Agip group did it in Formula 1, and, naturally, the Piaggio Group has done so – and continues to do so to this day. We have a great tradition to uphold; it is a tough challenge that comes after a 2009 season in which Aprilia exceeded our expectations, proving its competitiveness with three world MotoGP titles and surprising everyone with its results in the Superbike series. These successes justify great ambitions and expectations; to fulfil them will be a great challenge. It is difficult to make predictions at the beginning of a season, but we have prepared well for the challenge, working hard and improving on every front”.
In 2009, there were many expectations for Max Biaggi’s return to Aprilia, the marque with which he had won three consecutive world championships in the 250 cc class from 1994 to ‘96. Now the team is looking forward to seeing the results he manages to bring home, in light of a debut season that demonstrated both the potential of the bike and the ability of the Roman rider to steer its development and take it to the top of the leader board, right up to the win at Brno.

Max Biaggi: “The presentation of a new season, of a bike with new colours, is always very emotional for a rider – it’s like witnessing the birth of a living creature. It will be an honour to carry these prestigious colours onto the circuits of the whole world – a tricolour that will make both the bike and team unique. We also have a new team member: Leon comes from the tough British championship, and he certainly has all the right cards to become the strong wingman that both I and the team need.
Aprilia did a fantastic job in 2009, we made giant strides from a technical standpoint, which were made possible by the whole team and by the work that let the debuting RSV4 make progress race after race. The win at Brno was just the crowning moment of a continuous process of growth. Of course, we were the great surprise of the 2009 season, and I am really happy with the results; nobody could ever have predicted that we would be so competitive at our debut, nobody would ever have expected a fourth place season finish. And yet I still feel as if the greatest satisfactions are still to come, we haven’t reached the top yet – only a win will really crown it all for me. We are now facing the forthcoming season armed with more knowledge, more experience on the circuits and with the awareness of our potential”.

The four times World Champion will be joined on the grip by 23 year old Englishman Leon Camier, in what is his season in SBK. Leon comes fresh from winning the title of British Superbike Champion, after dominating the 2009 season of his national championship for production derived bikes with an incredible 18 wins out of a total 26 races.
Leon Camier: “Being a part of this team, a part of the RSV4 project, is an incredible opportunity for me. This championship will be very tough, with extremely high levels of competitiveness. I’ll be racing against some outstanding, highly experienced riders. This is why it is so important to be in a team like Aprilia Alitalia, one of the very few that offer a rider extraordinary opportunities in terms of developing the bike. My first impressions of the RSV4 were phenomenal: it has enormous potential and is a very quick bike. Now, I must first get as much experience as possible to fully exploit the potential that Aprilia puts in the hands of the rider. It is a great challenge for me to learn how to develop a bike and make it better. Everyone wants to win and everyone sets off from the grid to win, but my first goal will be to understand the bike and constantly improve my performance. I think that we have already found the right direction for the development of the bike, our goal now is to continue in this direction and to improve together with the bike”.

Never in a million years will Ferrari build a motorcycle — and with Ducatis being so awesome who needs it to? — but it’s fun to think about what might roll out of Maranello if it ever decided to give two-wheelers a try.

Many have envisioned such a machine and a few have actually built one or two of them, the best being the Ferrari-sanctioned bike Kay Engineering built in honor of Enzo Ferrari. But few have been so wild as what Amir Glinik’s come up with. The Israeli industrial engineer started toying with the idea in 2005 and has been working on it ever since.

“Vintage and modern Ferrari projects influence my design,” he says on his website. “It’s a mix of what I find to be the best Ferrari lines with the latest technology I could think of in terms of engine, gear and driving management.”

Frankly, the body doesn’t quite work for us, and with that wheelbase the bike would handle more like an Escalade than an Enzo. But the engine. Oh, wow, the engine. It’s a work of art. And isn’t that what Italian machinery is all about?

Previous Ferrari-themed motorcycles have used conventional V-twin or four-cylinder motorcycle engines, although one guy shoehorned a V6 from the Dino and a V8 from the Ferrari 308 into a pair of custom-built bikes. Glinick’s concept, which is so far just files on a computer, uses one-third of the V12 from the Enzo supercar. “The idea of ’slicing’ a V4 out of one of Ferrari’s engines was something I saw at (a) very early stage of the project, and that’s what I did,” Glinik says.

The bike features fly-by-wire throttle and controls modeled after those in an F16. Dual-caliper brakes clamp down on a single perimeter rotor like those found on Buell motorcycles. There’s a touch-screen control pad mounted where the fuel tank is on conventional motorcycles (speaking of, where is the tank on this bike?). It’s used for engine management and to control suspension settings, the GPS unit and other functions.

As for those huge slats at the front of the bike, Glinik calls it an “active intake system” that controls air flow to the engine, and they close completely to increase drag under hard braking. You’d no doubt do a lot of that with that sweet V4 screaming between your legs.

More info and pictures at Glinik’s site, which we found while surfing The Kneeslider.

Read More http://www.wired.com/autopia/2008/09/never-in-a-mill/#ixzz0fluZXZiO

2010 Norton Motorcycle Models

2010 Norton NRV588 Race

This machine was prototyped in 2006 by Brian Crighton and is directly evolved from the racer he designed for the 1995 season. Featured in Motor Cycle News 10 March 1994, it was a projected onward development of the Duckhams Nortons which stormed UK circuits in 1994, when Ian Simpson won the British Supercup championship and team-mate Phil Borley was third.

Outstanding features of Crighton’s latest racer are numerous computer-controlled functions and the retention of the 1994 twin-shock chassis layout, but with a single shock absorber on one side, taking advantage of the SPONDON swingarm’s extreme rigidity. Many features on this machine are in common use on racetracks today, showing how far ahead of its time the NRV-588 was when first conceived more than 10 years ago.

www.motorbikehub.co.za

I saw a “slash-2” Granada red BMW motorcycle for the first time in 1968, when Harder’s Sales and Service, Janesville, Wisconsin (no longer a BMW dealer), had a new R60US in that color for sale. In the 1960s, BMW motorcycles could be special ordered in any color the BMW cars were painted. Granada red was one such color. I could not afford that BMW in 1968, but I remembered it and wanted to obtain one of my own eventially.

In January 2006, I met Tim Stafford at the MidAmerican motorcycle auction in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was auctioning of the most beautifully restored BMWs I had ever seen. Tim, who works out of San Diego, does exquisite restorations of BMW motorcycles and Vespa motor scooters. I since have heard his restorations represent the “gold standard” of BMW motorcycle restorations.

I discussed my desire with Tim, and he indicated he could do a restoration for me. We concluded a deal with a handshake. By that autumn, the R60/2 was ready, and you see photographs of it on this page.
Above: I love the view of a BMW boxer-powered motorcycle, like this R60/2, from above. The cylinders protrude sideways from the engine, like stubby wings. No other motorcycles have such an affecting view.

In the montage below, you see the restoration of the red R60/2 under way in Tim’s work shop.
I wanted to make my “new” R60/2 functional, so that meant installing appropriate period saddlebags or panniers. I used Craven panniers in the 1960s, so I set about finding a pair of the handsome “Golden Arrow” panniers on eBay.

I obtained two bags, which were in the standard Craven color of black, and had them painted Granada red. The result is shown below.
Below: Here is “Scarlett” posing in front of Frank Lloyd Wright’s First Unitarian Society Meeting House in Madison, Wisconsin — a National Historic Landmark.

Above: BMW announced the arrival of the 2010 R1200RT in November 2009. Torque and RPMs are increased; horsepower is unchanged. Cylinders now have double overhead cams. There are modest changes in styling.

The R1200RT, shown here by Madison’s Lake Monona with the Wisconsin State Capitol behind, was one of the most anticipated new motorcycle designs of 2004. The R1200RT, a 2007 model is shown above, is the next iteration of BMW’s renowned “RT” series of sport-touring motorcycles, dating back to the 1978 R100RT (photo below, left), which was replaced in 1987 by a slightly revised R100RT (photo below, right). The “RT” designation stands for Reisetourer, German for “travel tourer.”

www.motorbikehub.co.za

KTM Motorcycle History
KTM Sportmotorcycles has a deeply rooted motorsport tradition, building race-ready motorcycles for competitive and recreational riding. More than 130 world championship titles, victories at Dakar and countless national championships are proof of the company’s great technical expertise. Recently, the company has entered into the streetbike category with a variety of sporting and adventure-touring road-going machines.

* 1934 Austrian engineer Hans Trunkenpolz opens a metal-working shop in Mattighofen, Austria. The name of the business is Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen

* 1951 The company’s first motorcycle is developed – the R100.

* 1953 The company becomes officially known as ‘Kronreif, Trunkenpolz, Mattighofen’ (KTM). A team of 20 employees is producing three motorcycles per day.

2010 KTM RC8

* 1954 The 100th KTM motorcycle is delivered.

* 1955 A businessman, Ernst Kronreif becomes a sizeable shareholder of the company, which is renamed Kronreif & Trunkenpolz Mattighofen.

KTM Tourist (125cc) model is developed.

* 1957 KTM builds first sports motorcycle – the Trophy 125cc.

* 1959 Motorcycle production ceases. First KTM Pony scooter and moped are introduced.

* 1963 The Comet moped is introduced.

* 1966 The 10,000th Comet rolls off the line.

* 1968 The cross-country Penton Six Days dirt bike is produced and exported to the United States.

* 1970 KTM begins producing its own engines. (Previously, many of the dirt bikes had been equipped with Sachs motors.) New 250cc motocross bike is developed.

* 1973 KTM begins production of the 250 Cross and Enduro bike.

* 1974 Production of the KTM Hobby III begins.

* 1975 KTM introduces the road model Comet Grand Prix 125 RS.

* 1976 KTM produces its own 125cc engine.

* 1978 KTM America Inc. established in Lorain, Ohio. 50cc product range extended.

* 1981 Production of first water-cooled 125cc motocross bikes.

* 1982 Motocross models outfitted with new Pro Lever rear suspension. Company develops its first 4-stroke engine with water cooling.

* 1986 KTM becomes the first manufacturer to offer front and rear disc brakes on an off-road machine.

* 1987 Production begins on the KTM 4-stroke engine – single cylinder, 560cc, overhead camshaft.

* 1988 KTM stops production of scooters.

* 1989 Hans Trunkenpolz, founder, dies.

* 1991 KTM files for bankruptcy. The company is split into four independent arms – radiators, motorcycles, bicycles and tooling.

* 1992 Newly formed motorcycle division opens – KTM Sportsmotorcycle GmbH.

* 1994 KTM Sportsmotorcycle GmbH renamed KTM-Sportsmotorcycle AG. Production of Duke series of road models begins.

* 1995 Company acquires Husaberg AB and takes over White Power Suspension (NL).

* 1996 Production begins for KTM LC4 engine with electric starter.

* 1997 LC4 Supermoto road model is introduced. Also, KTM’s first adventure bike – the LC4 Adventure – is introduced.

* 1998 PDS Linkless suspension system is developed for 2-stroke models. Also, new 125 and 200cc engines and new Z design are introduced.

* 1999 Production begins on new 4-stroke engine – RACING 400/520. Also, the first KTM engines with separate lubrication (125 and 200cc) are introduced.

* 2001 Fabrizio Meoni wins the Dakar rally on an LC4 660R. KTM completely dominates the motorcycle class for the future of the event, which runs for the last time in 2007.

* 2003 Company introduces 950 Adventure and presents 990 Duke.

Backed by Red Bull, the company enters the 125cc World Championship. After a couple of challenging years developing the machine, Mika Kallio will finish second overall in ’05 & ’06.

* 2004 KTM launches the 990 Super Duke and introduces the 990 RC8 Venom and the 950 Supermoto at the Intermot in Munich.

After earlier agreeing in principle to supply motorcycles to two out-of-work actors, so they can make a documentary about a trip across Eurasia and North America, KTM abruptly drops the project. Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman get BMWs instead, and make “The Long Way Round.”

* 2005 KTM launches the 950 Supermoto and introduces the 990 Adventure and the 950 Super Enduro R.

The company announces a strategic partnership with Polaris, with the goal of shared R&D, and more importantly shared distribution networks. The plan is to try this relationship out for two years and, if it proves fruitful, to merge the two companies.

* 2006 The partnership with Polaris is dramatically downgraded. KTM announces that from now on, the company will simply supply Polaris with a few motors for ATVs.

* 2007 The company supplies all the 125cc motorcycles for the Red Bull Rookies Cup.

www.motorbikehub.co.za

Batt Holdings

Batt Holdings is a South African based company and subsidiary of the Leisure Imports Group an investment and holding company which also owns Batt Ltd a company registered in the United Kingdom.

Batt Holdings factory produces over 150 types of rubber tyre products. The products hold one or more of the following international certifications E4, CE and DOT-USA.

Batt Holdings

Batt Holdings have two main line ATV tyre ranges the first range is for the recreational riders and the commercial, agricultural and security markets as their requirements are very different to the professional race market. Where companies make use of fleets of ATV’s and utility quads using the Batt sport range will drastically reduce maintenance and running costs as our sport brand is the most competitively priced brand in the market place yet our quality competes with the premium brands, our production cost cutting is in the cosmetic look of the tyres as one does not require a good looking tyre in order for the ATV or UTV to perform a commercial function.

Our second main line is the Batt Pro Series a premium brand on par with other premium brands such as Maxxis, Kenda, ITP, Pirelli etc.

The Batt Pro Series caters for the ATV * UTV * SIDE BY SIDE * CAGE CAR & KART markets and includes MX PRO and ENDURO PRO for the race market and serious sport riders. Batt Holdings also supplies scooter, golf buggy and lawn mower tyres.

The Batt Group will be entering the two wheel market by mid June 2009 with a range of MX, Enduro, Motard and Mini Cross tyres.

Batt Holdings is very involved in Motorsport South Africa’s pro race scene and run a Factory National Team for Motocross and Enduro disciplines as well as support sponsoring development riders in alternate disciplines such as FMX and Karting.

Batt Holdings

Batt Holdings is currently the largest supplier of ATV tyres on the African continent, with market expansion focus on the EU and United Kingdom.

Aprilia is Europe’s second largest producer of motorcycles and scooters and the only non-Japanese manufacturer with a complete range of two-wheeled vehicles.

Aprilia is an unconventional and ultra-modern company even in terms of its organisation. Strategic planning, design, marketing and all know how are concentrated in Aprilia’s historical home in Noale near Venice. Just a few kilometres away, still in the province of Venice, lies the Scorzè production plant that was expanded and partly restructured in 1997.

Scorzè’s assembly lines increased from 8 to 11 in number, giving the plant its currents production capacity of 2,500 units a day (between motorcycles and scooters).

From the time individual parts reach the assembly line right up to the moment each motorcycle undergoes final testing in a special computer controlled test cell, each phase of production is subjected to rigorous quality control. Aprilia’s quality management system is certified to ISO 9001:2000 standard.

The company’s Logistics Centre is also based in Noale. The Centre occupies an area of nearly 70,000 square metres (31,000 of which are indoors). The nearby town of Santa Maria di Sala is home to Customer Service, the organisation that manages Aprilia’s after sales service to dealers and customers, no mean task considering that there are about 2 million Aprilia motorcycles on the roads of the world today.

new Aprilia motorcycle or scooter is sold somewhere in the world on average every 3 minutes, a success based on advanced technology and excellence and innovation in design.
Aprilia’s share of export markets has grown dramatically in recent years. In 1992 Aprilia earned 27 billion Liras from exports. Today that figure has risen to over 250 million Euros.
Aprilia’s sales network boasts 192 official dealers and 1480 authorised sales outlets in Italy. Aprilia also owns 4 foreign subsidiaries, in Croatia, Greece, USA and Japan, and 4 selling agencies (UK, France, Spain, Germany). Aprilia machines are sold in another 24 countries worldwide via a network of exclusive importers who supply 1,800 dealers.

The company’s marketing objective for the short term is to penetrate the strategic markets of China and India, the two countries that now account for the sale of most of the world’s vehicle production.

Negotiations with Chinese and Indian industries are already at an advanced stage and will soon enable Aprilia to take a giant step forward in the implementation of its strategy for globalisation.

Aprilia is not just market leader. In very little time the company has become a leading name on the world’s racing circuits too, establishing itself as one of the most prestigious and successful marques around.

Since 1985, when Aprilia first entered the world speed championships, the company has won 32 world titles.